Senator says that if lawmakers can’t overturn Christie’s veto, pay equity in New Jersey will remain a distant prospect

Back in May, when Christie vetoed a bill (S-992) that would bar gender-based pay discrimination and allow women to seek back pay if they could prove pay discrimination, he called the legislation “nonsensical,” said the state and federal government had already enacted sufficient protections, and argued that unlimited back pay was too generous.

Announcing December 19 as the date of the attempted override, Weinberg said “If we take no action, we will not reach pay equity in New Jersey until the year 2055.”

According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, women working full-time in New Jersey earn 80 cents to every dollar that a man earns. Factoring in part-time workers reduces that number to about 69 cents.

The disparity is even greater for some. Black women in New Jersey working full time earn 58 cents for every dollar a white man earns. For Latinas in New Jersey, the figure is 43 cents on the dollar. That’s the largest wage gap in the country for Latinas.

In the seven years that Christie has been in power, there has never been a successful override of any of his vetoes.